Bits and pieces

Happy pi day (3.14)! I’m clearing out my mailbox and “to do” lists before heading to the NSTA Conference in New Orleans.

Here are some items of interest:

Teachers’ Domain announces a new new Adolescent Literacy Special Collection: Inspiring Middle School Literacy: Reading and Writing in Science and History. According to the information sent by WGBH, “These self-paced classroom activities are designed to enhance the literacy skills of struggling readers in grades 5-8. Each activity uses videos, interactive activities, notetaking, reading, and writing to present students with an engaging science or history topic. All 15 activities promote a range of literacy skills including monitoring comprehension, synthesizing, asking questions, developing vocabulary, connecting prior knowledge to new learning, and developing a topic in writing.” I’ve found that Teachers’ Domain is a wonderful resource for a variety of topics in science (and other content areas), and the science topics in this literacy collection include Continental Drift: From Idea to Theory, Exploring the Everglades Environment, Newton’s Third Law: Action-Reaction, Reproductive Strategies, Snake Jaws: A Lesson in Evolution, Surviving Winter, and Transitional Fossils.
I’ve heard about a new documentary called Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist. According to the website, this film follows the research of a group of graduate students and addresses the reasons people become scientists and the challenges they face. I haven’t seen this yet, but I understand that it is showing at various film festivals.